Ark. AG rejects wording of abortion amendment

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel on Tuesday cited ambiguities with the measure proposed for the 2014 ballot by a group called Personhood Arkansas.

Associated Press

Arkansas' attorney general has rejected the wording of a proposed constitutional amendment that would declare that life begins at conception.

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel on Tuesday cited ambiguities with the measure proposed for the 2014 ballot by a group called Personhood Arkansas. McDaniel must certify the measure before the group can begin gathering the 78,133 signatures from registered voters needed to place the question on the ballot.

The amendment would require Arkansas to "protect the life of every unborn child from conception until birth." Arkansas' constitution currently states it's the state's policy to do so as permitted by the federal constitution.

McDaniel wrote that deleting the reference to the U.S. Constitution doesn't address the impact federal laws would have on the state's ability to restrict abortions.